Posted 1:45 PM by Sean
I suppose by now everyone's hear that Sammy Sosa was caught using a corked bat last night, when the bat in question broke during an at-bat in the first inning of the Cubs-Devil Rays game. Sosa's explanation was that the bat wasn't one of his gamers, but rather a batting practice bat he used to put on a show for the fans. Sosa's other bats have all been confiscated, and will be checked for illegal modifications.

While it's obviously prudent to wait for the results of those tests, it does seem to me that there's something wrong with Sosa's explanation. It's batting practice, i.e., the time when you work on your swing and get yourself into a groove. Why on earth would you be using different equipment, getting yourself used to a bat with different properties than the one you were going to use during the game?